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When Calgary career coach Yvonne Silver and image consultant Leslie Davies hosted an event this past Thursday for International Women's Day, they focused on one thing more than anything: confidence.

Both Silver's and Davies' female clients come to them with the same concerns about lacking the confidence to build their careers. While they each tackle it from different angles, the goal is the same: to help women accelerate their careers, reach the top and find that elusive work-life balance through it all.

Recent statistics show many barriers remain to increasing the number of women in top positions in corporate Canada, with numbers remaining flat and still relatively low in recent years, despite considerable past gains.

"Confidence is a key component of women asking for what they want and being able to express in a career conversation that they're looking for a more senior role," says Silver, who owns Shattered Ceiling Corp.

Since women are still most often the primary caregivers for their children, it's no surprise that struggling to deal with work-life balance remains one of their other biggest concerns, she adds.

They also tend to work using a more collaborative, consensus-based approach to solving problems, which can sometimes be mistaken as a longer route to getting results than a more traditional, "commandand-control" approach perceived to be taken by men.

"(Collaboration is) more of a natural style for women to operate under," says Silver, who stresses the importance of a support network. "I encourage women to have a strategic career circle, including a champion or sponsor."

Having at least two mentors - they could be colleagues within the company or in the industry - as well as someone on board who's directly in the firm and one or two levels up the food chain - along with support from a coach, all work together to produce a team of supporters who each play different roles.

"If you are hand-picked by one of the more senior leaders of the organization, their opinion will supersede a lower-level manager," Silver says.

Davies aims to educate women about style, appearance and demeanour to address the confidence barrier. As the owner of Impact Image Essentials, she counsels women about how to present an image of credibility and confidence, but also the freedom to be creative and fun while remaining true to themselves.

"My passion is really helping women feel more confident and attractive to help them achieve their goals," says Davies, who spent 17 years in human resources and recruitment before launching her business.

"We have an opportunity from an image perspective to communicate who we are authentically and purposefully," she adds.

After 12 years or so of going out of her way to be taken seriously by dressing extremely conservatively - "pearls, pumps and navy suits," as she says - she finally felt lost and unattractive. "I think that can be common for a lot of women," Davies says.

It's not always about climbing the corporate ladder to achieve success, either. Both Silver and Davies launched their own companies out of a passion for entrepreneurship - an increasingly common choice for women.

A recent BMO Bank of Montreal survey found that while the vast majority of women would like to start a business (71 per cent), one quarter of women believe striking a balance between work and personal life commitments is a major barrier.

"Balancing work and life commitments such as caring for children or elder family members is a big consideration, one that is almost as important as translating ideas into practice and finding customers," says Cathy Pin, vicepresident of commercial banking for BMO.

No matter what choice women make, Silver says, they all need to remember to focus on confidence, clarity, credibility and career goals - despite all the obstacles - and use a support team to get there. "It's harder to walk that fine line between being feminine and being perceived as being confident and credible," she says. "It's just a series of steps."

Women in the workplace

- Canadian women hold 17.7 per cent of senior officer positions among FP500 companies and 36.5 per cent of management positions, yet they comprise 47.3 per cent of the labour force.

- Women held just 7.5 per cent of top executive positions in 2011.

- Less than 20 per cent of FP500 companies had more than one quarter female board members.

- Eighty-three per cent of women say having a mentor when starting a business would be important.

- Seventy-one per cent of women want to start their own business.

- Of all small-and medium-sized businesses, 46 per cent have some degree of female ownership; 16 per cent are majority-owned by females.

derek.sankey@telus.net

Source: Catalyst Inc. / BMO Bank of Montreal

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